Only PM Modi can solve problems in Kashmir: Mehbooba

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said that PM Narendra Modi is Kashmir's only hope to resolve the dispute once and for all. Opposition parties have questioned PM Modi's silence over the issue. The BJP state unit and the RSS have been questioning her ways of checking escalating violence in the Valley.

Taking an indirect dig at former PM Manmohan Singh, she said, "Before Modi a Prime Minister had also de sired to go to Pakistan for over 10 years".

While appreciating PM Modi's move of visiting Pakistan, she said, "It was him who visited Pakistan during heightened tensions between the two countries". He, too, probably wanted to resolve issues and remove confrontation with Pakistan so as to bail the state out of unrest and violence.

Though none of the PDP Ministers was present in Jammu with Mehbooba, she herself reached out to the BJP leadership by praising Modi's visit to Lahore in December 2015. It was the first visit by the Indian Prime Minister in a decade. "Woh jo faisla karenge, mulk support karega", she said. "I am saying it again, and I may be criticised for it, but if there is someone, who could find a solution to the problem of Jammu & Kashmir, it is Narendra Modi", she said while addressing a gathering soon after inaugurating a flyover in Jammu. "Our main focus is to bring peace and security to the people of the state", said Singh.

Gupta also highlighted the "non-availability of parking slots" in Jammu, adding "common citizens are facing great difficulty due to a Jammu and Kashmir High Court order and unrealistic pro-activeness on part of traffic police".

Deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh said the project reflects the coalition government's commitment towards developmental works. She pointed out that militancy in Kashmir had declined during that period and there was peace on the border. "There is not a single promise made in the "Agenda of the Alliance" that BJP has not belittled and ridiculed and despite all of this Mehbooba Mufti shamelessly indulges in this sycophancy which is unbecoming of a CM", the party spokesman said.

"There was pent-up lava". There were talks with L K Advani (in Kashmir).

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